Increasing Technology Adoption at Your Firm

When you open a software program, you’re given a full menu of options. From core functionality to the shiny bells and whistles, they always have a lot to offer.

But with a program full of robust features that “can make a firm more efficient and more productive,” firms often struggle with getting everyone to adopt this new technology. How do you go about this?

First steps

You always want to start by figuring out why you purchased the program in the first place. Ask:

• Initially, what feature, report, functionality, or interface appealed to you the most?

• Of the efficiencies the program offers, which one piqued your interest?

• What made you say “Wow, <insert name of technology program> is just what we need”?

Answering these questions will create a path toward enhanced usage. But you shouldn’t stop there, and you shouldn’t go at it alone.

At Junxure, a new NAIFA Preferred Provider and an awardwinning CRM platform for financial advisors, we recommend that every firm create a Technology Task Force.

In your work with clients there is a natural progression—from addressing financial fundamentals to addressing their more complex, comprehensive needs. Implementing technology has a similar progression—from learning the basics of a system to building upon your knowledge to leverage more advanced functionality throughout the program. The Task Force is your guide. Your team knows where the firm needs to go, but more importantly, where you are today.

The Task Force should include a mix of team members—those who embrace technology and change, as well as those who are more resistant. Selecting employees from each area of the firm, your task force should represent a cross-section of responsibilities, perspectives and personalities.

Gathering data

Once the Task Force has been formed, the data gathering should begin. At this stage, you should:

• Focus on goals and prioritize. (Go back to the first three questions mentioned previously). If employees don’t know why you’ve purchased a program, or understand the impact it can have on the firm, they are less likely to adopt it.

• Assess core competencies and usage across the firm. What do users find easy? What areas or features do they struggle with? From there, build a plan.

• Identify available resources to help you learn. These may be internal or external to your firm. Don’t be afraid to engage the software company to help you create a path for learning and ultimate adoption success. At Junxure, the consulting and training team works closely with firms to understand the goals they have for their CRM and makes recommendations on how they can best meet them.

• Repeat if necessary, especially as your firm and the industry change over time. Implementing technology is not a destination. If you have the right program, it will continue to grow and evolve as you do.

Making it work

Encourage others to share ideas, comments and issues with your Task Force that can then be addressed in your routine Task Force meetings. I encourage firms to include a “Technology Tip” in their staff meeting agenda. It helps to have employees share with others something they have discovered about a program that had a positive impact on workflow or client service. Discussing how systems help your day-to-day business is very effective in getting buy-in from your team.

Think about how you help your clients succeed. You put a plan in place and commit your resources to carrying it out. Why not approach the implementation and adoption of technology the same way? If you develop a plan and assemble a task force to help penetrate the many areas of the business, you’ll continue to move forward and drive additional adoption.

Junxure is a NAIFA Preferred Provider. Annual subscriptions for Junxure Cloud are available at $65/ user/month. NAIFA members enjoy a 15 percent discount. Contact Junxure at 866-586-9873, option 2, for more information and to request a demo or a free trial.

By Diane Boyle and Judi Carsrud